Fintech Doubles VC Investment Value to Over $13.8 Billion

In 2015, fintech entered the mainstream in the business world, doubling VC investment value in 2014 to over US$13.8 billion.

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In 2015, fintech entered the mainstream in the business world, doubling VC investment value in 2014 to over US$13.8 billion. Fintech is gaining momentum everywhere across North America, Asia and Europe.

Globally in 2015, venture-capital-backed fintech companies raised $13.8 billion across 653 deals, compared to $6.7 billion across 587 deals in 2014. These statistics show the growing performance of fintech in recent years.

The increase in deal volume is not as significant as the increase in deal value, indicating that average deal size has gone up dramatically compared to historical levels.

Five key global trends

Cointelegraph has selected five key global trends that reveal the popularity of fintech.

The traditional banking functions of payments and lending have been the key sub-sectors driving fintech historically, and the use cases that the majority are focused on are either in payments processing or lending technologies.

3. Deal size is growing across regions

Numerically, the most significant change in 2015 has been the value increase of deals. SoFi reached $1 billion for Series E funding, and a lot of other companies, such as Kabbage and Dianrong, also achieved large investment in recent funding rounds.

4. Corporates are playing a big role in fintech, especially in Asia

Fintech companies are changing roles from vital competitors to potential enablers. Corporates participated in over 25% of all fintech deals. Major tech giants such as Google and Apple are becoming a big threat to historical fintech players like banks.

5. Fintech investment may have slowed in Q4’15

With total global VC investment dropping significantly in Q4’15, fintech also experienced a similar decrease, from $4.7 billion to $1.7 billion over the same period.

Regional specification of Fintech growth

North America was bannered for the high performance of fintech in 2015, since it accounted for more than 50% of deal volume and 70% of deal value globally last year.

Asia’s fintech investment saw a significant propel in 2015, rising from $1.1 billion to $4.5 billion year-over-year, making a vital contribution to the global fintech growth.

European fintech companies realized their second straight year of $1B+ investment with a relatively small amount of VC investment, implying the rapid increasing interest towards fintech in this region.